“The problem of terrorism in all its dimensions in the Middle East and North Africa should be considered overwhelmingly", Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said

UNITED NATIONS, September 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia suggests convening under the aegis of the United Nations a forum to consider the problem of terrorism in the Middle East and Northern Africa, Russia’s top diplomat said.

“The problem of terrorism in all its dimensions in the Middle East and North Africa should be considered overwhelmingly,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the agenda item entitled “Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts”.

“We propose convening under the UN aegis a representative forum with participation of regional countries, the African Union, the Arab League and permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as other interested parties,” he said.

“We supported the initiative of the American presidency in the Security Council on adopting a resolution designed to shut off air supplies to any activity of foreign militants-terrorists,” Lavrov said.

“At the same time, we would like to warn against the temptation to narrow the problem, as the Islamic State with its inhuman ideology and disgusting executions of journalists is far from the only threat to the region,” he said.

The Russian foreign minister said the new forum’s agenda should “also touch upon old conflicts, the main of which is the Arab-Israeli one.”

“The unsettled nature of the Palestinian issue for many decades is, according to a widely held belief, one of the key reasons allowing terrorists to get moral support and recruit more new members to their ranks,” he said.

Lavrov called “to pay attention to the deep roots of the regional problems, avoid reacting exclusively to their symptoms”.

“We will be ready to cooperate on an equal basis, starting from an honest joint analysis of the situation: how the problem emerged and how to get out of this chaos,” he stressed.